Differences in Empathy Between Offender and Nonoffender Youth

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in empathy between offender and nonoffender youth. Seventy-six male and 33 female juvenile offenders between the ages of 12 and 18 years and 33 male and 33 female nonoffenders between the ages of 15 and 19 years comprised the samples for this study. Measures of empathy, altruism, and social support were administered to all participants and then the participants were analyzed for status group differences. Only 1 dimension of empathy, emotional tone, was found to be significantly different based on group status. Gender differences were found for both status groups for another dimension of empathy, personal distress. Among offender and nonoffender youth, females yielded higher scores in personal distress than did males. Emotional tone and family structure were found to be the most predictive variables of offender status. Findings were discussed based on previous research and implications for interventions were addressed.Evaluation and Special Programs     

South Africa: airline found guilty of employment discrimination

On 28 September 2000, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that South African Airways (SAA) violated the constitutional rights of Jacques Hoffmann in September 1996 by refusing to employ him as a cabin attendant on the ground that he is HIV-positive.     

Canada loses appeal of WTO panel ruling on minimum patent terms

In the last issue, we reported on a ruling of a Panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that Canada was in breach of the international Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement). The Panel found that Canada's Patent Act does not provide the minimum patent terms required by the trade agreement. Canada appealed that decision, but on 18 September 2000 the WTO Appellate Body upheld the Panel ruling.     

V.A.T., Taxation and Prostitution: Feminist Perspectives on Polok

Debates concerning the taxation of prostitution have occurred in taxation law and in feminist literature. This article will integrate the case of Polok v. C.E.C. [2002] E.W.H.C, 156; [2002] S.T.C. 361, within the feminist legal canon. The case is discussed in the context of the argument of the European doctrine of fiscal neutrality, which dictates that, regardless of legality as amongst member states, if an activity is levied to V.A.T. in one member state, V.A.T. should be levied on it in all member states. The doctrine of sovereignty accepts the possibility that the integrity of the V.A.T. system may be compromised by the levying of tax on illegal activities, in terms of the cooperation between tax and other aspects of the U.K.’s legal system. European law, feminist law, commodification and the marketplace are all considered within the context of these principles. The article also considers the place of Polok within standard feminist texts on prostitution. Different paradigms of prostitution define different aspects of prostitution as ‘problems’, and the article considers the implications within a feminist reconstruction of Polok of this. The article suggests that the challenge for a feminist analysis of Polok is to remain within the realm of European tax and competition law, and to render the perspective of the employees of the Polok taxpayers part of the substance of the deliberations of the case.     

Desperately seeking donors: the 'saviour sibling' decision in Quintavalle v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (UK)

The recent House of Lords decision in Quintavalle v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has raised difficult and complex issues regarding the extent to which embryo selection and reproductive technology can be used as a means of rectifying genetic disorders and treating critically ill children. This comment outlines the facts of Quintavalle and explores how the House of Lords approached the legal, ethical and policy issues that arose out of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's (UK) decision to allow reproductive and embryo technology to be used to produce a 'saviour sibling' whose tissue could be used to save the life of a critically ill child. Particular attention will be given to the implications of the decision in Quintavalle for Australian family and medical law and policy. As part of this focus, the comment explores the current Australian legislative and policy framework regarding the use of genetic and reproductive technology as a mechanism through which to assist critically ill siblings. It is argued that the present Australian framework would appear to impose significant limits on the medical uses of genetic technology and, in this context, would seem to reflect many of the principles that were articulated by the House of Lords in Quintavalle.     

STR analysis of artificially degraded DNA-results of a collaborative European exercise

Degradation of human DNA extracted from forensic stains is, in most cases, the result of a natural process due to the exposure of the stain samples to the environment. Experiences with degraded DNA from casework samples show that every sample may exhibit different properties in this respect, and that it is difficult to systematically assess the performance of routinely used typing systems for the analysis of degraded DNA samples. Using a batch of artificially degraded DNA with an average fragment size of approx. 200 bp a collaborative exercise was carried out among 38 forensic laboratories from 17 European countries. The results were assessed according to correct allele detection, peak height and balance as well as the occurrence of artefacts. A number of common problems were identified based on these results such as strong peak imbalance in heterozygous genotypes for the larger short tandem repeat (STR) fragments after increased PCR cycle numbers, artefact signals and allelic drop-out. Based on the observations, strategies are discussed to overcome these problems. The strategies include careful balancing of the amount of template DNA and the PCR cycle numbers, the reaction volume and the amount of Taq polymerase. Furthermore, a careful evaluation of the results of the fragment analysis and of automated allele calling is necessary to identify the correct alleles and avoid artefacts.     

Risk factors for sexual victimization among male and female homeless and runaway youth

Risk factors associated with the likelihood of being sexually victimized by a stranger or friend/acquaintance since being on the street was examined among 372 homeless and runaway youth. Young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters by outreach workers using a systematic sampling strategy. Youth who engaged in more high-risk behaviors were expected to be at greater risk for sexual victimization by both known and unknown assailants. Results indicated that for females, running from home for the first time at an earlier age was associated with sexual victimization by both a stranger and friend/acquaintance. However, engaging in deviant subsistence strategies, survival sex, and grooming predicted being sexually victimized by a friend/acquaintance. For males, survival sex and grooming predicted stranger sexual victimization, whereas sexual orientation was associated with sexual victimization by a friend/acquaintance. Overall, 35% of the sample had been sexually victimized.     

Private nurses and playboy bunnies: explaining permissible sex discrimination

Discrimination on the basis of sex in employment is illegal--usually. In cases in which employers contend that sex-based hiring is necessary to protect the privacy interests of their customer, however, and in cases in which employers contend that sex-based hiring is necessary to provide a particular type of sexual titillation for their customers, courts sometimes do allow employers to discriminate. Courts say that they allow sex discrimination in employment when it is necessary to preserve the "essence of the business." This Article shows, however, that there is no plausible conception of business "essence" that can explain and make sense of the existing case law. The Article therefore looks beyond the courts' rhetoric to explain and defend why courts distinguish in the ways they do between permissible and impermissible sex discrimination in employment.     

Y-chromosome STR system, Y-PLEX 12, for forensic casework: development and validation

The Y-PLEX 12 system, developed for use in human identification, enables simultaneous amplification of eleven polymorphic short tandem repeat (STR) loci, namely DYS392, DYS390, DYS385 a/b, DYS393, DYS389I, DYS391, DYS389II, DYS 19, DYS439 and DYS438, residing on the Y chromosome and Amelogenin. Amelogenin provides results for gender identification and serves as internal control for PCR. The validation studies were performed according to the DNA Advisory Board's (DAB) Quality Assurance Standards. The minimal sensitivity of the Y-PLEX 12 system was 0.1 ng of male DNA. The mean stutter values ranged between 3.76-15.72%. A full male profile was observed in mixture samples containing 0.5 ng of male DNA and up to 400 ng of female DNA. Amelogenin did not adversely affect the amplification of Y-STRs in mixture samples containing male and female DNA. The primers for the Y-STR loci present in Y-PLEX 12 are specific for human DNA and some higher primates. None of the primate samples tested provided a complete profile at all 11 Y-STR loci amplified with the Y-PLEX 12 system. Y-PLEX 12 is a sensitive, valid, reliable, and robust multiplex system for forensic analysis, and it can be used in human forensic and male lineage identification cases.